At the Northern Fort

Volume 2 - Ch 10

"Look! There's a rabbit!"

After passing through the pastures, I discovered a brown rabbit on the bright verdant meadow.

The rabbits that live in this region change fur colours between the summer and winter, and right now it was just around the time for their summer pelt to come out. Thus, there was still a bit of white fur remaining on the rabbit's back and the tip of its ears. If you grabbed and pulled on them, a fluffy ball of fur might just come out.

Incidentally, according to Branch Captain-san, who was knowledgeable in the matters of animals, when the rabbits around here changed from their brown summer pelts to their white winter pelts, it was due to the fur losing its colour.

I had thought that it would be like when the summer fur comes out, with the summer fur falling out and the winter pelt growing in, but it seems that it wasn't like that.

Even though we were quite a distance from the rabbit, it appeared that it had also noticed our presence.

From a rabbit's point of view, a fox and a panther were undoubtedly its natural enemies, so its long ears were standing erect as it went on guard.

"Let's catch it~"

As he said that, Kugalg's muzzle——-in other words, the '3' part of his face (:3), puffed up and he turned his whiskers forward.

Well, is he getting excited?

On top of that, he lowered his stance, hiding in the shadows of the grass, and had completely entered hunting mode.

"Don't actually bite it hard. Since we won't be eating it even if you catch it."

I don't like raw meat, and Kugalg himself was like a spirit in that he didn't eat.

However, Kugalg was concentrating too hard, so he didn't properly listen to my words.

"Okay, go around from over there Milfee."

"Got it."

When I properly observed the rabbit, I noticed that it wasn't quite like the fluffy pet rabbits that you'd keep in Japan.

Its face was a bit longer and dignified, while its entire body was lean with muscle. Its hind legs were particularly developed. It looked far stronger than a furball like me.

Though I had thought that we wouldn't be able to catch a wild rabbit with such a sharp aura around it, I decided to try play-hunting together with Kugalg.

The fairy jumped around indignantly as if to say, "You're wasting time again!".

It'd just run away if I ran directly at it, so I followed Kugalg's instructions and went around it from the left.

Pretending as though I had no interest in the rabbit, I walked lightly while making a large circle around it.

It might be a bit silly to try chasing after a rabbit while carrying a bunny rucksack on my back.

Taking a sidelong glance at the distance rabbit, I watched Kugalg slowly approach it, closing the distance in his lowered stance.

The rabbit was preoccupied with me. It raised its head and was focussing on where I was going.

After making a considerable detour and reaching the front of the rabbit as it watched me, I kicked off the ground and began to run with all my might, despite there still being a considerable distance between us.

Caught by my claws, the grass from the field flew up, and every time I took a step forward the bunny rucksack would smack my back.

It's in the way!

The rabbit glanced back momentarily, and then jumped off in a run with a surprising amount of explosive power.

Just trying to follow its movements with my eyes was difficult.

While it soon created a distance with me, it was as planned so this was fine. The place where the rabbit was running to was where Kugalg was lying in wait after all.

Ideally, the rabbit would plunge into Kugalg's hiding place and he'd be able go 'BAM!' and catch it without having to run at all, but in reality the rabbit didn't move as we liked.

Kugalg jumped out once the rabbit came as close as possible to him, but even then there was still about 10 metres between them.

At that point, I was already completely out of breath, with my tongue sticking out as I panted while sluggishly running. However, Kugalg was seriously trying to catch the rabbit.

His pointed claws slashed the ground as he bound forward as though he were gliding. The rabbit made a sudden change of direction as he attempted to bite at it.

Wow, so fast~. I could tell how he's been going easy on me whenever we played tag.

However, even then he was no match for a rabbit that had lived in an relentless environment filled with natural predators.

After the slightly worn out rabbit managed to put a bit of a distance between them, Kugalg gave up and slowed down.

While gazing at the rabbit that was dashing for the forest with all its might, Kugalg and I came to a halt.

"Dammit!"

As though he were sharpening his claws, Kugalg scratched at the short grass growing on the ground. Since it would've just been trouble if we had actually caught it, I didn't feel all that frustrated.

"I'm tired……"

With my tongue still sticking out, I rolled over on the spot and Kugalg also sat down and began to focus on grooming himself. Kugalg had an unexpected love of cleanliness.

He earnestly groomed every nook and cranny to get all the dirt off, which always made me feel that he really had a pretty feminine side to him. Though he'd definitely get mad if I actually said that to him.

On the other hand, I would hardly groom myself, so unable to let things just be, Kugalg would always groom my fur for me.

While I did tell him that Tina-san often brushes my fur for me so he didn't have to help groom me, apparently it bothers him when he sees my fur in disarray so he can't just leave it alone.

Even now, after he finished grooming his own fur, he started to fervently fix up my fur as I laid down on my side.

Kugalg's tongue was rough, so it really did clean things up like a brush, but since my fur is long, it's apparently quite difficult to lick it. He was working hard, lifting up his jaw to lick it out.

"Ah, right."

Around the time when Kugalg had finished grooming, I suddenly recalled something. Somehow managing to restrain the fairy as it urged us, "It's about time to go!", I said-

"I'm hungry, so let's eat."

It's still a bit early for lunch, but it should be fine. I'm tired after working so hard 'hunting'.

Ignoring my internal voice of reason that said, "It's still too early for a break. You're not that far from the fort yet.", I decided to eat the lunch that Tina-san had me bring. I wonder if Kugalg will eat some too?

I couldn't take off the rucksack in my fox form too well, so I transformed into my humanoid form that had my fox ears and tail exposed. It was extremely difficult to eliminate the ears and tail from this form, so I still could only transform into this incomplete form.

Even in this form I was still a child, and while I liked my long silver hair, my white skin, and my eyes that were round like acorns, it still seemed like it'd take quite a few years before I could be called a 'beautiful young girl'.

(Geez, how could Mother and the One-Eyed Knight send such young children off to travel on their lonesome!)

As I huffily opened the rucksack, Kugalg also transformed into his human form and peeked curiously at the contents.

Kugalg wore Arabian-style clothes, and his build was a bit on the slender side. Even then, he still appeared quite young, and as expected he still couldn't hide his ears and tail. He's cunning as always.

"What's in there?"

"Lunch. And jerky too. It's delicious, so you should eat some too, Kugalg……hm? What the heck is this?"

The first thing I saw when opening the rucksack was a gaudily purple cloth.

It seemed like there was something soft inside of it, as it had a plush feeling when I touched it.

The rucksack did seem awfully stuffed. I suppose it was because something like this was taking up all the space. I used my small hands to grab it and tried pulling it out.

However, it was about the same size as the mouth of the rucksack, so it didn't come out so easily. I had Kugalg hold onto the bottom of the rucksack, so I used both hands to pull it with all my strength.

Then, with a poof, the purple something came out of the bag.

——and as it came out, I screamed.

"GYAAAHHHH!?"

The thing that was in the rucksack was a large plushie. The soft feeling of the cloth was because of the cotton stuffed into it.

Based on the feeling of it alone, it certainly was a plushie. Just based on the feeling, that is.

"What is…this……"

Kugalg's pupils enlarged and he took a forward-bent posture. It seems that he's recognised the plushie as an enemy.

However, I could understand his feelings.

This creepy purple plushie was probably made in the image of a mushroom.

And below the cap of the mushroom were an embroidered pair of eyes and a mouth. No matter how you looked at it, the expression was that of Munch's 'The Scream'.

Why was such a dreadful thing stuffed into the cute bunny rucksack? Is this harassment?

For a moment, such thoughts crossed my mind as I trembled from the appearance of the mysterious mushroom character, but then the image of Tina-san's smiling face floated through my mind. It was at that moment that I felt as though everything came to light.

This wasn't harassment. It was Tina-san's good intentions.

It's just that she's a bit clumsy, her sense of colour is a bit off, and she lacks artistic sense for making cute characters, so she ended up giving birth to such a sad monster.

My chest hurts.

While telling Kugalg, who kept giving the plushie kitty – or rather, panther – punches, that it was just a plushie, I tried to calm down the fairy as it buzzed while flying around, seemingly saying, "Let's run away".

"I think that this was probably put in so that I won't be lonely."

Though I felt like her kindness was a bit misguided, I thankfully put the plushie in a place outside of my field of vision and then once again began to dig through the rucksack.

Other than Mother's letter, inside the rucksack were two bundles. The first bundle contained jerky, while the other contained lunch.

"Wow, look."

Kugalg still had not gotten over the shock caused by the plushie made by Tina-san, so I turned his attention towards the contents of the bundle.

Within it were my favourite potato crepes. It wasn't completely made of potato, but had grated potato mixed into the batter and was made thicker than the crepes often seen in Japan. The springy texture of the crepe was delightful. It was pan-fried, so the edges of the crepe were crunchy and fragrant.

Normally, I'd eat it together with veggies or bacon, but today it seems like it had been fried with butter and arranged with sweets.

The first crepe had a red berry jam, while the other had honey smeared on the inner layer. The two crepes were then rolled up into long tubes.

I'm sure that the Head Chef was the one who prepared this. He probably figured that if he jammed the package with sandwiches and other side dishes, it'd just end up all mixed together with me carrying it.

"Which one do you want, Kugalg, the jam one or the honey one?"

"I don't really need something that humans made."

"Don't say that. It's delicious. Then, I'll give you the honey one."

While I pretended that I was giving him the one I recommended, I actually just wanted to eat the jam one, so I gave him the remaining crepe.

Leaving Kugalg to sniff the crepe that I placed in front of him, I sunk my teeth into my potato crepe.

It was a simple snack with a springy texture and the faint taste of potatoes. The buttery flavour matched up well with the acidity of the berry jam.

I think it was last summer when I was given a taste of the fresh jam after the newly harvested berries were boiled together with a small amount of sugar. However, at the time the berries still hadn't broken down, so the fruity juices would overflow from the berries when I bit into them. That was also pretty delicious.

As I thought about such things while making a blissful expression, I continued to gobble down on the food.

Kugalg also timidly tried to take a bite, then made a surprised face and took another bite, then another……like that, he continued to eat the crepe slowly. I guess he likes it?

Since there was potato in it, just eating one filled me right up, but I couldn't endure the temptation of my favourite jerky and ended up eating a bit of that too.

When I passed some over to Kugalg as well, his face visibly lit up as soon as he put it into his mouth.

It's delicious, isn't it? I get you. As expected, carnivores prefer meat over crepes.

"I'm sho full……."

Just as I started to feel sleepy, the fairy crashed into my forehead, as though it had perceived my thoughts. It seemed to be saying, "Wake up, it's about time we go!".

However, as I looked at the eager fairy, I suddenly started to wonder whether or not I could make a fairy too.

(Let's try!)

I cupped both my hands in front of my chest as though I were trying to scoop up water, and then imagined my power gathering there.

Then, I imagined the power condensing and turning into a ball of light.

"Eh? Uwah……!"

I didn't think that I'd be able to do it, but I was able to create a ball of light with unexpected ease.

It was considerably smaller than the fairy that Mother made – about the size of a bead – but it also flickered with a white light and floated in the air.

"I did it! Yay!"

When I stood up excitedly, Kugalg looked amazed and stopped his actions of digging through the rucksack——apparently he still hadn't had enough of the jerky.

"My fairy……"

What a wonderful phrase. It tickled my maiden heart with its fairy tale-like ring.

I started to hold feelings of affection for this tiny fairy that had just been born.

However, that cute fairy was…….

"Uwah, wait a sec-"

It buzzed, flying around my surroundings at high speeds like a bug. Using agile movements, it flew upwards, then downwards, then left and right with restless movements, crashing into the ground, crashing into Mother's fairy, then slamming into Kugalg as well——and made a fwshh sound before melting instantly.

"That wasn't my fault!"

Kugalg defended himself before I could blame him.

I know, I know. Kugalg was just standing there, and didn't do anything at all.

It was my restless fairy that crashed into him by itself and self-destructed.

Since Kugalg's a fire spirit, the immature snow fairy couldn't avoid complete annihilation from the collision.

While it was my fairy, it truly was a foolish child……

"I wanna try making it one more time……"

"I'm gonna make one too."

The two of us stood at the ready and looked into our own hands. Mother's fairy gazed at us, as though to say, "What about the errand……?".

We'll go as soon as we're done with this!

"I did it!"

"Ohh!"

Just creating a fairy in and of itself might be pretty simple. Both Kugalg and I succeeded, with each of us creating a red and white light, respectively.

However, as expected they were both about the size of a bead, and were both hopelessly restless.

Rather than cute fairies, they seemed more like cicadas that you'd see crawling on the ground at the end of summer.

They'd fly that way, then this way, then fall to the ground before circling upwards as though they had gone insane.

Calm down a bit, would ya!

In the meanwhile, my fairy once again flew upwards. Kugalg's fairy, which was just as flighty as my own, also flew up and then – POOF! They collided……and once again were annihilated.

"Geez! Dummy!"

I reflexively ended up raising my voice at my fairy's hasty manner.

However, it seems like it's still a bit early for me to be making fairies. Probably, no matter how many times I make them, I'll just end up creating silly children like these.

And since I was sharing my own power to create the fairies, the more I created, the more tired I would get.

If I had the same amount of power as Mother has, it probably wouldn't be anything to worry about, but it was a large burden for my young self. It'd probably be better to stop at this for today.

"Kugalg, it's about time we head off."

I shoved the eerie plushie that Tina-san created back into the rucksack, put it on, and returned to my vixen form while speaking.

I can't just keep fooling around after all.